The woman in this portrait is traditionally identified as Margherita Luti, Raphael's lover from Rome, who was portrayed in his portrait "La Velata." She is shown here in an Eastern-style hat and with a bare chest. Her gesture, the hand upon her left breast, has caused much of the intrigue around this work. It has been speculated that this reveals a breast tumor in the guise of a gesture of love, or that she is touching the last breast she used to feed her child with Raphael. The band on her arm is a signature, saying RAPHAEL URBINAS. X-ray analysis has revealed that the background was initially a landscape in the vein of Leonardo da Vinci; at some point, however, it was replaced by a large myrtle bush, a symbol of the goddess Venus.